NBA Playoffs 2019: What should I watch for if my team is eliminated?
The NBA playoffs are the best, but not every fan has a horse in the race. Here’s a guide to finding your rooting interest for the postseason.
So your favorite team’s off for the summer. Maybe they juuuust missed out on securing a berth. Or maybe their season was a dumpster fire rolling downhill. Either way, it’s playoff time and you need somewhere to place your fervent support.
With my personal plight as a Knicks fan, I’ve grown accustomed to finding postseason rooting interests on a nearly-annual basis. My experience groomed me to be the perfect spirit guide for this venture. Consider me your Virgil and this here is our River Styx.
The first step is identifying what you want in a playoff team. Do you identify with a plucky underdog? A steamrolling juggernaut perhaps? How do you feel about superheroes? Let’s start from the bottom and work in no particular order:
The proletariat
The underdogs of the NBA world. The working class. The ones who scraped by and are just happy to be here. Most of them aren’t long for this world. Those who do break through get remembered. There’s an inherent reward in defying the odds and going on an unexpected ride. Picking one of these teams means you’re prepared to fail, but you still believe in miracles.
Orlando: Most fans might not even realize the Magic made the playoffs because nobody actually watches them. However, since Feb. 1, they’ve rolled out the NBA’s top defense paired with the eighth-rated offense. While them getting to the postseason may have been a surprise, their claim is legit.
Brooklyn: What a journey just to be where they are today. Amazing how fast you can turn it around when you have smart people in high positions.
Detroit: The Pistons needed the final game of the regular season to make it here and their best player is now a question mark with a knee injury. Toppling Milwaukee would be some David and Goliath level stuff.
L.A. Clippers: These guys weren’t supposed to be here. In a loaded West? After they made trades to blatantly tank? The Clips truly went against the grain behind savvy veteran coaching, a swarming backcourt and the Danilo Gallinari renaissance.
Portland: Despite their status as a No. 3 seed and deploying a second-tier MVP candidate, the Trail Blazers seem to be proverbial underdogs. Maybe it’s because they’re a known commodity, but their continuity makes them likable with more entrenched fans.
Legacy groups
San Antonio: You like prestige. Your tastes are refined. You probably own a record player, not because it’s hip, but because you truly think vinyl sounds better. Gregg Popovich could take a random group of G-Leaguers and seize the No. 7 seed next year. The Spurs are for people who know the best things are forged over time.
Defensophiles
Indiana/Toronto/Utah: Do you love when a team can put the clamps on? Did you grow up with a ‘defense wins championships’ poster above your bed and yearn for the low scores of the ’90s? Then take your pick from this trio.
Untapped potential
The saddest thing in life is wasted talent. If everything comes together, these two could represent their conference. If it doesn’t, they could get bounced in the first round.
Boston: The Celtics, after a season of injuries to their two big names, found their collection of promising youngsters were all future stars. They’d surely be the team to beat for the next decade. Fast forward to this year with them at full strength and everyone took a step back.
Philadelphia: The 76ers have the most star-studded lineup this side of the Mississippi. The only issue with them is a matter of chemistry. Their fearsome foursome doesn’t even have half a season of playing with each other, but combine for the highest ceiling of any team in the East.
For the disparaged Laker assemblage
Houston: Are you a Lakers fan who mapped out playoff screening parties back in October only for everything to turn into this? Then the Rockets — a heliocentric system predicated on an orbit of shooters and a gravitational roll man — are who the Lakers would be a reasonable facsimile of if, you know, they made good personnel choices this offseason. Watch the Rockets and imagine everyone in purple and gold.
Next. 5 players who would like a do-over on the 2018-19 NBA season. dark
Beholden by the power of the juggernaut
Golden State: Question — are you rooting for Thanos in Avengers: Endgame? If you are, the Warriors and their seemingly limitless power is the team for you. Also, you’re a monster.
Superhumans in real-life
Milwaukee and Oklahoma City: Watch the Bucks and Thunder for even a few minutes and you’ll swear Giannis Antetokounmpo and Russell Westbrook aren’t of this world. The things they do on a basketball court make you question everything you know about physics.
Denver: Nikola Jokic is superhuman, but in the opposite way that Antetokounmpo and Westbrook are. Instead of speculating if you’re witnessing the next phase of evolution, you wonder how can this guy be a professional athlete?
This is where I leave you, with your course now set for an uncharted sea. Pick your new adopted team wisely.